Avalon's Glory: Anticlimax
by Aesop
Summary: BTVSGargoyles 11: The Key has been acativated, scattering Humans and Gargoyles across worlds known and unknown.  All have returned safely, but where is Glory?


AVALON'S GLORY:  ANTICLIMAX

By: Aesop

DISCLAIMER:  I don't own any of the characters from Gargoyles or BTVS and don't make any money off of this, so don't bother suing. This is just for fun. This story takes most of season five into account.  My thanks to StorySeeker for the basic idea and the help he provided by beta reading my work.

SUMMARY:  The Key has been activated scattering gargoyles and humans across worlds known and unknown.  All of the humans and gargoyles have returned home, but where is Glory?

Oberon lowered his hand and visibly relaxed as the last of the portals collapsed, vanishing with a brief display of pyrotechnics.  The effort seemed to have aged him visibly, hollowed cheeks and creases in his brow that had not been there before caused them all to stare.  This visible display of fatigue, something no Human and few Fay had ever witnessed, did not last long.  He visibly pulled himself together, the signs of age vanishing quickly as he drew strength from Avalon to replenish his energies.  "It is done," he announced in a voice that showed no signs of the strain he had just endured.

"Avalon is safe then?"  Rupert Giles ventured.  "What of Glory?"

"What of her?" Oberon answered, his tone supremely unconcerned.  He turned a condescending eye on the former Watcher.  "Did you want her found and retrieved as well?"

"No!"  Dawn squeaked, then seemed to realize this was not meant seriously.  "I-I think he just wanted to..."

"I rather lost track of her in all the excitement," Giles explained.  "She went through one of the portals?" 

"Yeah," Spike cut in.  "She got hauled off by this big pile o' teeth n' tentacles."

Giles sighed in relief.  "I was looking, I suppose, for some reassurance that she won't be troubling anyone again."

Oberon considered.  "She lacks the means to travel between dimensions.  Wherever she is now is where she shall stay."

"Unless she finds someone or something that can open a portal for her," Xander pointed out, frowning.  Anya stomped on his foot.  "Ow!  Okay, okay!  She's gone.  I'll just enjoy it."

"Good idea," Buffy gave her friend a tolerant smile.  The smile vanished though as she turned to confront Oberon.  "That only leaves one thing."

Oberon cocked one eyebrow in her direction, seeming vaguely amused when she gave him what Xander referred to as the LOOK.  "The Key," he nodded.

"No.  Not the Key.  My sister.  I don't care where she came from or what she used to be.  She's my sister now and I don't like people using her."

"R-respectfully, your majesty," Giles stepped in hastily.  "It is in everyone's best interests that steps be taken to insure that this does not happen again.  The powers that Dawn contains are incredible and need to be properly channeled or restrained."

"Indeed."  Oberon looked at Dawn speculatively and she shrank away, casting a terrified look in Giles' direction.

"I-I believe I know what you were trying to accomplish," he continued hastily, "but… can you return her abilities to their dormant state?"

"I cannot," Oberon answered flatly.  "It would damage her and leave the Key more dangerous than it is now.  I can, however, finish what I started."  Buffy's eyes narrowed in anger and she opened her mouth to tell him precisely what he could do with his plans for Dawn.  Giles put a hand firmly over her mouth and spoke again.

"I'm sure you can understand Buffy's concern for her sister's well-being.  What exactly would you do?"

"The child would be given full control of the Key's natural abilities.  It would take time for her to learn to use them properly though.  She would require tutoring…"

"That the witches could provide I'll wager," Spike broke in, having had more than enough of Oberon's manipulations for one day.  "She's goin' home with us.  Love to live dangerously though I do, I wouldn't suggest anythin' else."  He glanced at Buffy who was giving her Watcher an irritated look, and finished quickly.  "Don't think you should suggest it neither."

"I could always leave her as she is.  It might be amusing to watch you try to cope with her little outbursts," Oberon mused, ignoring Spike's implied threat.  

"Unfortunately, my love," Titania broke in, stroking his arm, "despite their insolence, they speak truth.  This cannot be allowed to happen again.  The balance between worlds must be carefully maintained."

The Fay lord turned to his queen and considered this for a moment before nodding.  "The easiest way to prevent that would be to destroy the Key."  Ranks closed in front of Dawn.  Tara and Willow joined hands as Buffy slipped into a fighting stance.  "However," he continued, his tone indicating that he was either unaware of or unconcerned by their reaction, "the magics involved in its creation are unknown to me.  I could not even attempt it without knowing more."  He sighed and gave them an irritated glare.  "The Key would be safest here, but in the interests of getting you all off of Avalon, I will finish my initial spell, and give the girl conscious control over her power.  That should prevent any accidents.  Then," he gritted out, his temper beginning to fray, "you will all leave, and pray our paths never cross again."

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Glory threw the last tentacle away with a cry of disgust.  Her chance to claim the Key was gone and she was trapped in yet another alien dimension.  The rift had sealed behind her while she was still fighting the monster.

"Okay, okay, this is a setback, but I can deal.  I can deal. Just… think.  Gotta think… Ooh I could use a brain to snack on!"  So involved was she in her rambling that it  was a moment before she noticed the sensation inside her, the squirming unpleasant feeling like her gorge rising that she had come to associate with Ben's return to dominance over the body.  "NO!  Not now nitwit!  I ca-!!"

"Ahhh!"  Ben stumbled, disoriented.  "Ewww!!"  He didn't know what he was standing barefoot in, but it seemed to have leaked out of the thing with the tentacles.  _Where am I now?_  Before he could even begin to take a proper look around, his attention was drawn upwards by a sound that was guttural and at the same time almost musical.  He turned and looked up and up and up.  

Whatever it was, it wasn't looking at him; it seemed completely unaware of him, and he was grateful.  Its attention was entirely focused on the creature that Glory had killed.  It repeated the sound as it stared at the remains of the beast directly behind the petrified Human, sounding, the thought flitted through Ben's misfiring brain, almost grief stricken, and took a single careless step forward.

THE END


End file.
